WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2004
Volume 4, Issue 28
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
O’Connor appointed as new mayor
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 1 5 13 18 42 Meganumber: 12 Jackpot: $16 Million
Holbrook will take top spot next winter
FANTASY 5 1 6 10 27 32
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
BY JOHN WOOD 521 187
Daily Press Staff Writer
DAILY DERBY 1st: 2nd: 3rd:
08 Gorgeous George 05 California Classic 07 Eureka
RACE TIME:
1:40.68
CITY HALL — Pam O’Connor, the lone woman currently sitting on the Santa Monica City Council, assumed the city’s top office on Tuesday. The 56-year-old historic preservation consultant was
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
appointed mayor by a slim 4-3 vote; a vote made without discussion. “It’s a job to be done,” said O’Connor, who also served as mayor in the late 1990s. “The campaign’s over. We have a lot of business. We have a lot of stuff to do, and I want to move us forward as expeditiously as possible.” O’Connor, who both lives and works in Santa Monica, replaced City Councilman Richard Bloom,
the previous mayor who stepped down on Tuesday. The mayor of Santa Monica possesses no special voting powers, but PAM O’CONNOR does make slightly more money and enjoys the name prestige that goes along
BY CHUCK SHEPARD
In 1998, a New York jury said Kenneth H. Payne murdered a man, but the state's highest court set him free in October 2004, with no strings attached. The jury had convicted him of "depraved indifference" murder (rejecting "intentional" murder), but the Court of Appeals said the circumstances of the crime better fit the latter rather than the former. Noting that state prosecutors have often used "depraved indifference" as a crutch for juries that might be reluctant to call a murder "intentional," the court decided to send district attorneys a message by essentially giving Payne a free murder.
School of hard knocks
Daily Press Staff Writer
QUOTE OF THE DAY “History is the record of an encounter between character and circumstances.”
DONALD CREIGHTON CANADIAN HISTORIAN
INDEX 2
Surf Report Water Temperature: 59°
3
Nicky Five Aces/Five Aces Photo A man is consumed by his work while he installs an electric sign yesterday on the Third Street Promenade.
Opinion Of Biblical proportions
4
State Rays of hope
7
National A big fat ‘No’
By Daily Press staff
10
Comics Laugh it up
16
Classifieds Need a job?
17
Service Directory Lights out
19
LAX COURTHOUSE — Former LA/Oakland Raider Anthony Wayne Smith spent his first free night in nearly one and a half years at home with his wife and three children on Tuesday after a judge dismissed the arson charge against him. The judge’s decision came after a second jury failed to reach a decision in the case. In June, a jury in the first trial ended up hung 7-5 in favor of Smith. The second trial concluded Tuesday, with jurors split 11-1 in Smith’s favor. Smith, 37, clenched a tissue in his hand and looked down at the table in front of him as the judge issued his ruling, standing only after a long pause. “Thank you, thank you,” sobbed Smith, choking through heavy tears. He then turned to his
wife, Teresa, who sat in the front row of the courtroom and embraced her for more than a minute in silence, tears streaming down his face. Prosecutors pursued Smith after finding 21 partially burnt pieces of mail and personal documents with his name and address inside the firebombs that ignited the 2003 fire, which gutted Simply Sofas, a furniture and antiques store on Lincoln Boulevard. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz explained he wouldn’t let the case be tried a third time, despite a strong suspicion of guilt. “I don’t think it’s possible for any other jury to make a decision in this case ... I don’t believe the people are going to be able to swing all of these votes to not guilty,” said Judge Schwartz, who See SMITH, page 6
Con men take ‘pigeon’ for $4K in lottery scam
8
Real Estate You’re entitled
Ex-NFL star wins freedom BY JOHN WOOD
In 1961, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court. In 1964, Canada’s House of Commons approved dropping the “Red Ensign” flag in favor of a new design. In 1979, the deposed Shah of Iran left the United States for Panama, the same day the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Iran should release all its American hostages.
Just ask, Aquarius
See MAYOR, page 5
Jury split 11-1 in favor of Anthony Wayne Smith, who spent 18 months in custody for Santa Monica fire
TODAY IN HISTORY
Horoscopes
with the office. The mayor also sets council agendas, along with the mayor pro tempore and the city manager. Also Tuesday, Herb Katz was named mayor pro tempore, and the City Council voted to appoint Bob Holbrook mayor next winter, with newcomer Bobby Shriver serving as his mayor pro tempore. City Councilman Kevin McKeown, who served as mayor
A woman was swindled out of $4,000 Monday after two men convinced her she was chipping into a $300,000 winning lottery jackpot, police said. The woman was apparently the victim of a fraud scheme police call a “pigeon drop.”
Jacquie Banks
According to police, a man approached the 68-year-old woman at 12:50 p.m. on the Third Street Promenade, claiming he had a winning lottery ticket but was unable to cash it in because he was in the country illegally. He initially approached the victim, asking how to find a specific address while speaking in Spanish.
As he explained to her that he had the $300,000 winning ticket, a second man joined in on the conversation, offering assistance. The first suspect told the woman that he would give her $10,000 if she helped him cash the lottery ticket. He told her that he needed to give the lottery commission $15,000 before he could
claim the prize. The woman was asked if she had $15,000, but she told the man that she only had $4,000. The second suspect said he had $9,000 and would be willing to help, police said. The woman and the two men went to her bank and withdrew $4,000 in cash. After getting the money See PIGEON, page 6
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